March is National Essential Tremor Awareness Month, a neurological movement disorder that causes unintentional shaking movements of the hands and head both when in static positions and during movements. In this guest blog Ariel Levy and Robert Chen, editorial board member for Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders, explained more about the disease.

Brain Awareness Week is a global campaign aiming to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research and it occurs in March. In light of this, we created a quiz to give you the chance to test how brainy you are! Do you know your hippocampus from your cerebellum?

Professor Monika Puzianowska-Kuznicka looked at the evidence for a calorie restriction diet improving age-related health issues through epigenetic mechanisms. What everyone wants is to live a long life. However, whilst already living longer, we have realized that longevity is of little value when associated with diseases and disability. Could a caloric restriction of 10% be the answer?

From a precision medicine to glow in the dark sperm

Precision medicine requires reliable genome sequencing: Identifying the genetic mutations that increase a patient’s disease risk allows them to take action to reduce their chances of developing disease. Research investigated the confidence we have in DNA sequencing results and here the co-author explained more.

Give your kidneys a second thought this kidney month: The National Kidney Foundation called all individuals to give their kidneys a second thought in March in light of it being National Kidney Month. Critical Care Editorial Board Members and talked here about acute kidney injury, and why this is important to understand.

Faced with rejection? Sleep on it: After all the work involved in completing a piece of research, combined with the preparation and effort in submitting a coherent manuscript for peer review, no one wants an email bearing the news: “your manuscript has been declined for publication”. Here, Elizabeth Moylan gave a personal perspective on the next possible steps.

Why we created glow in the dark magnetic sperm: Publishing in Journal of Nanobiotechnology, researchers used bioluminescent magnetic nanoparticles to allow imaging and manipulation of sperm without damaging the cells. Co-author Keisha Walters talked us through this technique.

Sophie graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Southampton before joining BioMed Central as an Editorial Assistant in 2013. She then worked as Community Manager here, facilitating the promotion of content published in journals, before leaving the company in 2016.